On Tuesday, December 4, 2007, I picked up a copy of The Observer, ND's student newpaper, as I was walking out of Flanner Hall following my college seminar, "Perfect God, Imperfect World: The Problem of Evil," and I was stopped dead in my tracks by a head line that I never thought I would read: Contraceptives Available for Medical Needs. I was in utter and complete shock at reading this, mind-blown really, how did this happen?!
Yes, the article did say that Health Services will be only administering contraceptive prescriptions for patients with irregular or painful menstrual cycles, no menstrual cycle or abdominal pain. However, I do not think that even extreme situations such as these necessitate that Health Services have contraceptives readily available to the double-X student population. Why? Well, my reasons are multi-fold and i would be more than happy to tell you.
[1] Although contraception may offer the best or easiest treatment for these medical conditions, there are other, good quality treatments available that Health Services can offer to student-patients. These could be offered as a "first try," and if these don't work, well then Health Services can refer students off-campus.
[2] The medical resources in South Bend are of high quality and quanitity. If a young, ND female student is needing treatment, then she should have no problem in traveling a whole mile and a half off campus to a medical facility for consultation. And I would have no problem with Health Services having medical referrances available for these students.
[3] With contraception being so closely tied with the abortion industry, which is wrought with dishonesty and deceit, I do not find it much a stretch to believe that those doctors and patients respectively prescribing and being prescribed contraception will have no problem faining an excuse for "medically-necessary" contraception. I know that this sounds a little like conspiracy theory, but I find it hard to believe that doctors wouldn't have any qualms about prescribing contraception for contraceptive purposes, with the claim of it being for legitimate health needs.
[4] Notre Dame, as a prestigious institute in the world of academia, should stand as a beacon of Catholicism in a world where most prestigious universities have succumbed to most pressures and demands of secular society. We should not sacrifice or undermine our Catholic Identity and Character when society can only benefit from our remaining strong in the face of adversity.
Notre Dame has so much potential and its students have exponential potential as well, but we must make sure that we [Notre Dame] take every mean possible to make sure that this potential is realized only through means that benefit the student bodily, spiritually, intellectually, and ethically.
http://media.www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/storage/paper660/news/2007/12/04/News/Contraceptives.Available.For.Medical.Needs-3130689.shtml
3 comments:
As a student receiving contraceptives from the University Pharmacy, I have a strong opinion against your recent post. I am pro-life, but a serious left me hospitalized the entire summer and threatening my return to school this semester. Among many other prescriptions, birth control pills have helped me begin to regain my help and allow my body to function properly. I had an illness, and part of my recovery included contraceptives, why should I have to travel off campus when the University provides resources for any other person suffering from an illness. It is not an easy decision to be placed on this prescription, but when it comes to health sometimes it is the only option. It is a lenghty process to be deemed medically in need of contraceptives, and I highly doubt that the University physicians who I have become quite familiar with in my time here would abuse this opportunity to provide medicine that while possible controversial, can work to promote health among people suffering from an illness.
As one who is somewhat gynacologically challenged, I don't know the medical uses of anovulant pharmaceuticals, beyond their contraceptive effects. Whether there are alternative therapies is beyond my expertise. However, I do have some expertise in the Church's moral teaching, and specifically concerning Humanae Vitae. In that famous encyclical, Pope Paul teaches: "The Church [...] does not at all consider illicit the use of those therapeutic means truly necessary to cure diseases of the organism, even if an impediment to procreation [...] should result therefrom, provided such impediment is not, for whatever motive, directly willed." (HV §15).
So it is pretty clear that the University Health Services are on solid ground, so long as the use of these pharmaceuticals is restricted to the treatment of genuine pathologies and not for contraceptive purposes.
Now you know how I feel when I saw an American flag flying parallel to a similarly sized Vatican one on a Catholic Basilica. Has it become so absolutely necessary to express American nationalism in all instances that we defile a building chosen by the Holy Father? Is there another Basilica in the world that is adorned with national symbols? I have never seen an American flag so brashly displayed on a cathedral or church in America in before and certainly have not seen this desire to adorn places of worship with national symbols in Poland, where I've spent a lot of time. (Although they do have something of an obsession with statutes of Jon Paul II).
And someone said something about ROTC being on campus. I didn't believe it until I saw the soldiers. Um..
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